Coolmore looks to build on Galileo's legacy

Coolmore's amazing global success over the past 15 years and the related triumph of Aidan O'Brien's Ballydoyle operation has been largely built off the back of Galileo's phenomenal stud career.

Anthony Van Dyck (Ire) was the 43rd Group 1 winner by Galileo trained by O'Brien, more than twice as many as any other stallion.

It was notable from an Australian perspective too, as he joins the likes of Highland Reel (Ire) as a Group 1 winner by Galileo out of Australian-bred mares.

Coolmore has been sourcing quality mares for the top line European stallions out of Australia for some time, a strategy which was executed by Coolmore's Australian principal Tom Magnier.

"Galileo is quite clearly the best stallion in the world and Churchill (Ire), Clemmie (Ire), Winter (Ire) and Minding (Ire) are some examples of how effective he is with speed mares. Australia produces some of the best sprinters in the world and Danehill-line mares have a great affiliation with Galileo, as evidenced by Frankel (GB), Highland Reel (Ire), Teofilo (Ire), Alice Springs (Ire) etc.," Magnier told TDN AusNZ.

In early 2009, Hveger (Danehill {USA}), the sister to five-time Group 1 winner Elvstroem and half-sister to triple Group 1 winner Haradasun (Fusaichi Pegasus {USA}) was sent to Ireland on the same Coolmore shipment as $5 million mare Milanova (Danehill {USA}).

Hveger has visited Galileo seven times since with the globetrotting Group 1 winner Highland Reel the result of their second mating, while stakes-winners Idaho (Ire) and Cape Of Good Hope (Ire) have been other success stories.

Milanova had six foals to Galileo, five fillies and one colt, producing the stakes-winner Pretty Perfect (Ire).

Looking for more success

Not long after Highland Reel completed his 2-year-old season with a Group 2 success at Goodwood in 2014, Magnier was searching for another Danehill-line mare from Australia.

The Exceed and Excel mare, Believe'n'succeed, who had already produced the Group 1 winner Bounding (Lonhro), fit the bill perfectly and she was snapped up at the Patinack Dispersal Sale for $1.1million.

"Believe’n’succeed had everything we looked for in a mare to suit Galileo. She won a Blue Diamond Prelude and was only a length off the winner in the Blue Diamond, so she was precocious and had blistering speed," Magnier said.

"She’s by one of Danehill’s best sire sons in Exceed and Excel, and hails from a top-class speed family, being a granddaughter of dual Group 1 winning mare November Show (Storm Cat {USA}) and a full-sister to Kuroshio. To top it all off, she had already produced a champion sprinter with her first foal and was a beautiful looking mare, so she had it all."

It didn’t take long to work out whether the strategy would work, with her first Northern Hemisphere foal now a Group 1 winner after his heroics in winning O'Brien his seventh Derby at Epsom last week.

There was a certain level of satisfaction for the Coolmore team back in Australia, knowing the role they played in the success.

"The Derby at Epsom is the highlight of the European racing season for breeding enthusiasts, in a similar way to the Golden Slipper in Australia. It is the pinnacle; so to win it with a son of a mare sourced in Australia was an incredible thrill," Magnier said.

Watch: Anthony Van Dyck winning the 2019 Investec Derby

Many strategies in play

As with any major operation, Coolmore has many breeding strategies in play. Magnier spent a combined $6.5m on seven mares at last week's Magic Millions Broodmare Sale, most of whom are destined for Triple Crown winner Justify (USA), who will stand his first season at Jerrys Plains.

He is one of four sons of Scat Daddy (USA) that Coolmore will stand in Australia in 2019.

It will also stand two sons of Galileo, with G1 Cox Plate hero Adelaide (Ire) marking his first winner this week with the impressive Funstar for Chris Waller at Canterbury. Unsurprisingly, she is also out of a Danehill mare in Starspangled (Ire).

The other son of Galileo at Coolmore Australia is the four-time Group 1 winner Churchill (Ire), who served his first season in 2018 and has access to a wealth of fast Danehill-line mares.

"Churchill is the most precocious son of Galileo and comes from a brilliantly fast family. He was a dual Group 1-winning champion at two and a dual Guineas winning miler at three. He’s a full-brother to a Group 1-winning champion 2-year-old over 1200m and his grandam was a Group 1-winning champion two-year-old over 1200m," Magnier said.

"It’s an elite speed pedigree which is free of Danehill blood, so he is ideally suited to the Australian broodmare population. He was very well supported by some of Australia’s best breeders in 2018 so we look to what the future holds for him here."

Churchill's first Northern Hemisphere foals have arrived to great acclaim, and expectations are high for his first Australian crop this spring.

His first-year covers included Group 1 winners Secret Admirer (Dubawi {Ire}) and Fanatic (NZ) (Shocking), stakes-winners She's Clean (Redoute's Choice), Kulgrinda (Exceed And Excel), Nancy (Big Brown {USA}) and Diamond Earth (Choisir) as well as the dams of Group 1 winners Atlante (Fastnet Rock) and Fiveandahalfstar (Hotel Grand).

"Churchill covered an outstanding book of mares in his first season," Magnier said. "His first crop foals have impressed all before them in Europe, and we are very excited for his first Australian-bred foals to hit the ground in a couple of months’ time."

Other sons of Galileo at stud in Australia include Highland Reel, who served his first season at Swettenham Stud last year, and Amber Grey (Ire), who has served small books at CBR Equine Lodge in Queensland.

There are also several grandsons of Galileo at stud in Australia, including Kermadec and Palentino, who are both by Teofilo (Ire).

Arrowfield's The Autumn Sun, who stands his first season this year, is an example of a Group 1 winner produced the other way around, being out of a Galileo mare by a son of Danehill in Redoute's Choice.